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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Fights occur in nearly 30 percent of hockey games, and no one bats an eyelash, but Richard Sherman believes the reaction would be much different if there was as much hand-to-hand violence during a football game.

The Seattle Seahawks cornerback said Wednesday during a panel on “Social Capital of the Savvy Athlete” at Harvard innovation lab that a double standard exists between race and fighting in sports. Houston Texans running back Arian Foster, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald and former NFL player and NFL Players Association president Domonique Foxworth also participated in the panel.

“It’s almost the angry black man syndrome, especially football players,” Sherman said. “I couldn’t imagine if there was a huge brawl on a football field, what the consequence would be, what the comments would be. There was just a huge brawl in baseball, a huge brawl. I haven’t heard about it since.”

Sherman can only imagine what the media’s reaction would be if a fight happened in football similar to Sunday’s brawl between the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

“That’s the frustrating part, the double standard, the triple standard,” Sherman said. “The way an athlete is viewed. The way an African-American athlete is viewed in football or basketball, the predominantly African-American sports. Just a brawl — imagine a brawl happening in football, and imagine the coverage.”

It’s rare to see a fists thrown during a football game, but Andre Johnson and Cortland Finnegan’s fight from 2010 is the most notable from recent years.

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Fighting is allowed in hockey to an extent with only penalty minutes assessed. They are on skates and holding each other up, it's not a street brawl. Pushing and shoving is allowed in football to an extent, with only 15 yard penalties assessed. Pushing and shoving is not allowed in baseball or basketball, and most always gets you an ejection and fine or suspension. This is based on the rules and tolerance of the game and the contact level of the sport, not the race of the offender. Get over it, it's not about race like a lot of you want to believe.

So what I got is that he's saying hockey is a sport for white people. Join the NHL, Sherm. Get into a fight. See how much you will be vilified for fighting because you're a black man. The baseball brawls happen all the time and players and coaches ae regularrly fined and suspended. Same for basketball, same for football, and even goes for hockey.